Arrest in bizarre child kidnap try

Police have apprehended a man who they say attempted to abduct a 20-month-old girl from her 65-year-old babysitter along West Broadway in Woodmere at 12:15 p.m. on Monday.

Craig Myczkowski, 44, whose last known residence was on East 2nd Street in Manhattan, allegedly approached the sitter and the baby, who was in a stroller, telling the woman that she was “pushing a dead baby,” police said. The comment alarmed the sitter, who hurried back to the child’s home.

Once inside, she removed the girl from the stroller and locked the doors. Myczkowski managed to enter a mud room, and tried unsuccessfully to open the kitchen door, which she had also locked, police said. He yelled, “Give me the dead baby,” grabbed the stroller and left, walking east on West Broadway.

Police responded to the house, and later found the stroller on one side of the Pizza Place at 1344 Broadway in Hewlett.

Detective Lt. Richard Lebrun, commanding officer of the Nassau County Police Department’s Public Information Office, said that patrols both in cars and on foot were stepped up throughout the night until Myczkowski was apprehended. “This incident appeared to be isolated, and there is no present danger,” he said.

At 7:46 Tuesday morning, Myczkowski was found sleeping on a couch in a doctor’s office in Suite 205 of the Hewlett Professional Building, at 1229 Broadway. He was arrested without incident.

Lebrun said that people in the area had seen him before. “He’s somewhat transient,” Lebrun said. “There’s no indication of his knowing the baby at this time.”

Myczkowski was charged with attempted unlawful imprisonment, endangering the welfare of a child, second- and third-degree burglary, criminal possession of stolen property and criminal mischief.

Lebrun commended the sitter for her quick thinking. “The sitter did a phenomenal job,” he said. “She got away from the encounter as soon as possible, locking the doors.”